Update:Pop Culture Gadabout reports there was an attempt to get comic book readers, and instructs on why Ditko wasn't an interviewee.

Liked The Hulk. (Spoilers follow.)
Two hours of Hulk Smash wasn't really an option: the risks and the broody Frankenstein/King Kong/Beauty And The Beast angle worked, although people's satisfaction level and mileage will definitely vary. CGI worked. Ang Lee's funky transitions and evocations of comic book panels and bodily fluids worked.
Love story worked, as did the action and the build-up to the action. Too much Daddy, though. Nick Nolte was great- but Neilalien thinks Bruce's father is more compelling as a childhood demon in Bruce's mind, not his janitor- as his 'creator' more psychologically than scientifically.
And Neilalien's convinced that we didn't just see a little Nolte Absorbing Man, we also had a glimpse of Zzzax too!

Stonehaven: Milk Cartons & Dog Biscuits Ashcan #1-6 by Kevin Tinsley and Phil Singer
Dated 02002-3. This story about a man searching for his missing daughter in a city filled with elves, ogres, lizardmen, gangsters, magic-users and werewolves is an interesting and involving page-turner. Can't tell the actual status of the product- Neilalien bought the six ashcans for 50 cents each- the first one had finished black-and-white art, the other five had sketch-ish art unfinished in places, and the neglected website talked in 02001 about a full-color 200-pager in Spring 02003. Still, if you spot this, pick up as much of the story as you can, it's fantastic. The one nitpick would be the heavy use of "to" for "too" and "of coarse" for "of course", which hopefully will get covered before the big color version.

Mortal Coils by A. David Lewis and various artists
#3 came out at MoCCA, #1-2 have been out since after last year's MoCCA. This series consists of two stories per book of the Twilight Zone variety, written by Lewis with a different artist. Lewis has some great ideas, and can still manage a surprise ending in our jaded world fifty years after EC's switcheroo endings. The one nitpick would be that some areas feel a little too wordy- but if Lewis' thought-provoking stories require all that conversation, and he continues with solid artists and letterers who can handle it, there should be no problem. Huge collection of reviews.

Neilalien once again had an awesome time at the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art's Art Festival, now in it's second year, here's to many more. Cheers to all the wonderful creators and people there. A highly recommended experience. More highlights: Talking for a quick moment about Fantagraphics' new lease on life with Kim Thompson. Talking with All-Class Klaus Janson again. Seeing the Fade From Blue guys again. (You think Neilalien is a name-dropping scenester, but none of these people know him from Adam.)

There was a downer: Mike Mignola was one of the artists doing sketches for MoCCA donations this year. Neilalien was very excited! The artist of the Dr. Strange/Dr. Doom Triumph and Torment graphic novel. A Dr. Strange sketch from this guy would be awesome. But when it was Neilalien's turn and he asked for a Doc sketch, Mignola wouldn't do it. He said he had no idea what Dr. Strange looks like. Uh huh. Now, Neilalien gives creators a lot of respect and the benefit of the doubt. Maybe it was a bad day. Maybe he just wanted to do Hellboy sketches and promote Hellboy and not other people's properties. It has been over ten years since the graphic novel. It's not like he's forced to satisfy any and all requests- although Neilalien doesn't think Doc is an inappropriate left-field request for this artist. Still, it was a nice little "Fuck you" that ended the day on a down note. Well, that's one donation MoCCA didn't get, and it's one sketch Neilalien didn't get- but he'll probably still go see the Hellboy movie. It's unfortunate that Mignola was unable to be "on" for his three hours or so in public at MoCCA- or at least "on" enough to give a more pleasant rejection for a more believable reason. Oh well, c'est la vie.

And remember, if you are an indy/alt/mini/lonegunperson comics creator who is not doing superheroes, autobiographical art-whine-angst or one-liner kiddie gags, and the story, art and lettering's good, and most of the misspellings have been edited out, you have a pimp in Neilalien. You are the future of comic books.

Maybe inside the bubble it seems like an important ecosystem worthy of slapping ourselves on the back, but outside looking in, it clearly feels like a withering echochamber of another superhero review site on one side, and Journalista Supplements peeing on our leg and insisting that it's raining on the other, and a chasm between.

Seriously, the way Neilalien sees it, any claims that the comics blogosphere is even just starting to be mature and diverse are ridiculous until there are:
a lot more comics weblogs in general;
a lot more comics weblogs by women;
a lot more comics weblogs by blacks, asians, latinos, etc.;
a lot more comics weblogs by retailers;
a lot more comics weblogs by creators already in the business (not wannabes);
a lot more comics weblogs by publishers;
a lot more comics weblogs about nonsuperhero comics;
a lot more comics weblogs about that manga;
a lot more comics weblogs about those European/French comics;
a few more comics weblogs trying to "hub" "all the news";
and a lot more comics weblogs with industry viewpoints different from Journalista's.

Comics, Pop Culture, and the World Outside [A Thousand Flowers]
Three myths about the unique failures of comic books nicely imploded.

Link rot is the bane of every internet user. And Newsarama link rot, link switches, server changes, server crashes, splits with Pulse and hackages is the burden of every comic book weblogger. This is more lost continuity than Crisis on Infinite Earths. So much for using Neilalien's archives to research past comic book news. It's not his fault, true believers.

What does Journalista think about Waid/FF? That Marvel fans should not express surprise nor disappointment when there are sudden creator changes on a successful book, because Marvel owns the characters.Puh-leez.

All The Gloom Conveniently In One Place

Well, that's convenient- all the gloom has been collected in one place.

This essay has been universally praised online over the past week, by people much smarter and more insider than Neilalien, so it must be good- but Neilalien's just not convinced. It reads like another attempt by Journalista to shoehorn any and all Marvel moves and news into its cherished mantra of 'Marvel Is Doomed'. Neilalien has never claimed to be a great analyst of the comic book business (some would say business analysis from inside Fantagraphics isn't exactly credible right now either)- but maybe there's a more even-handed approach to Journalista's stats and take on the situation.

Marvel Comics and the Direct Market are going to have to adapt away from the monomania of the straight superhero comic book, or die. General Motors doesn't build only red cars. This is the reality of the situation- at least it's the party line. The cyclical history of comics continues. Marvel is trying to change within the framework of its base, expand itself by taking its properties, making them less straight sooperdoop, throwing in something like manga, and getting them into bookstores and movie theaters. Sure, the nature of this expansion leaves a lot to be desired- Tsunami probably isn't going to attract the 'real' manga crowd, you can argue that Marvel's going from red cars to offering scarlet and maroon now too, etc.

But now Marvel is stuck if it doesn't change and stuck if it does? In this case, it's supposedly doomed because (a) the direct market is hostile to non-sooperdoop, and (b) the bookstore market is hostile to sooperdoop; thus (c) a half-breed sooperdoop property book is a precarious balancing act between two irreconciliable markets, to fail in both; especially with (d) all that debt limiting its freedom to maneuver.

This isn't a precarious balancing act. We have a happy core on one side, growing bookstore numbers on the other, and the debt is getting tamed.

While Direct Market retailers and consumers, for the most part, still seem resistant to manga or Fantagraphics' output, at their unfortunate peril- the 'clique' has not felt abandoned by Marvel's 'shifts.' If anything, the 'change-resistant hardcore obsessives' have rewarded the shift, by making Daredevil, New X-Men, Ultimates, etc., most of the new Marvel hybrids as Franklin calls them, the quality, the soap operas and crime dramas, etc. chart leaders and relatively good sellers. There have been hits and misses. But if anything, the 330,000 number- while big-picture laughable- shows that Marvel has not dangerously alienated its base over the past few years. The people who like red cars are still happy so far. Journalista thinks in its bubble that 'fanboy' hostility to Sandman and art comics means there will be fanboy hostility to a more adult, modern, police-procedural Daredevil, a more soap-opera X-Men, a more sci-fi Hulk- which is not accurate. An Aunt May romance-story attempt to appeal to multiple groups sounds schticky- worse than a Spider-Man cookbook- but such things happen all the time, it isn't an inherently horrible concept to straddle different worlds for fun and profit. And who says Marvel can't put out different things for different markets?

Is the bookstore market turned off? 'We don't all wear pajamas?' Marvel's bookstore sales went from $1.1 million in 2001 to $7 million in 2002, with a 14% market share. Hey, this is a fantastic start! But to naysayers the glass is half-empty- but heck, even Marvel's probably hungry for more too. It's difficult for Neilalien to see how this 'mainstream' has rejected Marvel's output, when Marvel grew 600% or whatever in one year when the market grew 33%- does that sound like rejection? So Marvel doesn't command the same 41% market share in the more-fragmented graphic-novel bookstore market after a couple years that it has in the superhero 'pamphlet' Direct Market after decades of control- there's no comparison, it's apples and oranges. Even if it stayed total sooperdoop, Marvel is still going to benefit from being in bookstores- because of the main problems comics face, a general-public contempt for action-fantasy isn't nearly as much of an issue as Journalista hopes. There's plenty of sooperdoop growth potential. It's almost as if 'snobs' reach for the validation of wanting to believe that a general public of 270 million is going to be as anti-action-fantasy as an insular 330,000 is anti-art comics. Just getting out of the DM ghetto and into where there's more parents, kids and foot traffic will help.

If work-for-hire is a negative in the bookstore arena (and Neilalien hopes it is, he's not pro-WFH)- and Marvel needs to become more of a bookstore publisher, then those things will have to change. Marvel will evolve to face reality, compete, attract talent and be a viable company as its trying to evolve now with sellable movies. It started to move a little on the WFH front when forced during the heydays of the 1980s and early 90s before grabbing it back, so it is capable, even if very resistant. But Journalista notions that Marvel's hands are tied and can't change this, if not for being corporate misers who want to turn your ideas into movies without you, but because it needs that we-own-it-all money to pay down its debt.

When it filed for bankruptcy in 1996 after the raiders, Marvel was $1.8 billion in debt- now it's at $151 million in debt, with X-Men 2 in the bank and Spider-Man 2 on the way. This is an incredible success story! We're right at the end of the Cinderella tale, and prospects look better than they ever have since 1996. Publishing won't dent that debt- it will have to be movie and licensing money- but there's no reason to assume failure now, to predict that the debt won't continue to go down, that whatever innovation and evolution is happening won't or can't increase and be successful, especially with the movie blockbusters so far.

Marvel's trying to widen the appeal of its properties, move the Direct Market of geek-culture toy stores along with it, it had a fine year last year in the bookstores compared to the year before, its licensing money is up, its movies are rocking, its debt is vanishing and its stock price is surging. Lots of fundamental problems for all comics and valid criticisms of Marvel remain: it can be an evil little company, Trouble and Epic and T&A covers don't feel like much, why the hell is Jemas writing books?, and a Hulk gamma movie bomb might kill it all. Marvel's not on a perfect path, but it's on a relatively successful one so far- successful enough to cast plenty of doubt on the naysayers like Journalista. The path is wide enough for a little wiggle room, there isn't all this perilous dancing between angry realms of miffed fanboy, bookstore rejection and crushing debt. But we shall see.

Some are starting to question how dire Fantagraphics' troubles really were [Savant MB] [Comics Journal MB] [checking back in at Newsarama]
Complaints that $80,000 was a highball figure, and that the loan that needed paying back was a private loan without the consequences or pressures of a 'real' bank loan. Plenty of refutation on the threads, so U-Decide.

Neilalien's been cleaning out browser bookmarks, so here's a little clearinghouse of links:

Incredible Patrick Stewart quote about playing Professor X for the first X-Men movie, posted to the On Deciding... Better weblog 22 February 02000, can't confirm because the links no longer work:

When I was growing up, my intention was to end up something like Professor X, Doc Savage, or Doctor Strange. A scientist man of action with one foot planted firmly in the esoteric world not commonly percieved by everyone else. I'm almost there.

Stan Lee And The Rise And Fall Of The American Comic Book [ICv2]
Unauthorized bio of Stan The Man will be out in September. A hatchet job is pretty much expected around here- although Neilalien will try not to pre-judge, and there's plenty negative to say about Lee and it's not like we got to read about it in Excelsior.

Neilalien doesn't know which is more insulting to his intelligence: Marvel T&A to get him to buy books, or people that use the fact that a comic book contains the same things shown in practically any television show to either feel horrified or for their political or smarmy benefit.

"The Pen Is Mightier; X-Ray Vision Is Needed to Find Black Superheroes"
May 5, 2002
In this article about black comic book heroes, Mr. Blair appears to have used material from an article published several weeks earlier in Metro Times, an alternative weekly newspaper in Detroit. For example, in The Metro Times, Sarah Klein, a staff writer, quoted Kenjji, an African-American creator of comic books, as saying, "I collected comics as a kid, but I was consistently disappointed, because I didn't find myself represented." Mr. Blair wrote that Kenjji said, "I collected comics as a kid, but I was constantly disappointed by the fact that I did not find myself represented."
Mr. Blair includes quotations and paraphrases from Kenjji throughout the article. Kenjji's manager and partner, Kito S. Jumanne, said in a telephone interview that Mr. Blair did not interview Kenjji.

Comics In The New Milennium: The Growing Storm [Slushfactory via Mark Evanier]
A discussion with Gary Glenn, President of the AFA of Michigan.

The crack about comic fans on the internet not being able to muster up more originality than calling the AFA "Nazis" is funny... Anyway, it certainly wouldn't be horrible to have comic conventions that are okay for all ages, and that plays into the whole rational thing about getting more kids into comics, accurately rating comics for adult content, laying out comics stores better, etc. But then this also all plays into the mass perception that comics are only for kids- and obviously we don't want the entire world dumbed- watered- and kiddied-down so it's acceptable to the AFA, so that being an adult means nothing. Then this article takes a weird turn about "porn users" potentially molesting children at cons, as if the guys who go see a live appearance of Pamela Anderson to hoot and toast her with an open beer are the same sick bastards who prey on kids. The way Neilalien assumes it, the molesters go where the children are, and they aren't into Penthouse and Playboy, which means making comic conventions adult-pornstar-free and more child-friendly isn't really going to solve that perceived potential problem at all.

Reasons to fear a timid retailer power bloc; the best quality comics we got now should be the lowest acceptable level, still don't get pushed; still more on Future Comics [Permanent Damage]

Hey, we all wear pajamas [Attentiondeficitdisorderly Too Flat]
All that seething mainstream hatred for characters with more abilities and fashion flair than regular humans just isn't there to sink Marvel's stretches into other genres and stores.

Big Nick-Barrucci-inspired discussion at Waiting For Tommy [Dynamic Forces website]
Joe Quesada: Making comics cool with national advertising and pussy won't work if people can't find comics: We are a one-distributor industry and that's bad.

Cult cottage industries perceived as motivated by art rather than commerce get some automatic underdog goodwill [Paul O'Brien on Ninth Art]
A non-Team-Comix explanation for Fantagraphics' successful call to arms.

Michael Turner sues Top Cow [Newsarama] [Update: Pulse]
Neilalien also says he thinks he saw something online (forgets where) that said we're not going to see any more Rising Stars until Top Cow settles up with JMS, too.

This Sleeper book.Alan David Doane likes it.
Franklin's Findings likes it.
Breakdowns likes it.
Fourth Rail likes it.
It's got a Dr. Strange cameo in #5. Went to the comic shop and issues #1-4 were just sitting there together on the rack! The Universe converges. Hello bliss, this is Neilalien.

One particular note is that Sean Phillips' art is much better in Sleeper than it was in that Marvels X-Men issue with the cannibal Doctor Strange.

Marvel's more 'real' superhero characters were always better than those perfect uber-powerful aliens, amazons and kings at DC, and now that can help those characters stretch outside the purely superheroic genre [Franklin's Findings]

Call it old-fashioned, but discussing weblog traffic stats feels like discussing salaries- a mum topic. When those A-listers and X-pundits do it, it's gloating. It's one of those bad-form newbie mistakes, like apologizing when you don't post for a couple days, or linking to the Onion as if nobody reads it. And hey, we're all supposed to be too cool to care and compare where we sit in the hierarchy (yeah right). Well, beyond exposure for Dr. Strange to get him his own title again, Neilalien actually doesn't do this public bookmark list much for the traffic (yeah right). No, he knows other nefarious purposes and rewards, his cliquey ego just doesn't work that way, and spending his first blogging year at ten hits/day killed that mentality (along with losing all those grade-school popularity contests). All the people he's met, friends he's made, web site/design/tech stuff he's experimented with, the critical and creative juices he's electroshocked back from the dead, the doors that have opened, etc.- all bigger warm-fuzzies than PageRank.

Still, he wants to send out a huge thanks to the readers today. You've been blowing past 10,000 weblog page views per month. Excelsior! That's not a lot for the A-listers and X-pundits, but for Neilalien, it's humbling, exciting, scary and a feeling of accomplishment all at once. And now, Neilalien will stop talking of such things before it jinxes him, he cracks under all those eyeballs, he quits next week- or looming real-life time constraints and nice summer weather forces him back to the micro-niche of only covering Dr. Strange news (hint hint).

To Whom It May Concern, I would like to express my thanks for your sending the package of comic books to us here in Iraq. We are with a USMC transportation unit that has been "in theatre" for over three months now. The comic books are a first of their kind to be received here and are a welcome diversion from our daily missions. The Marines want to pass on their thanks to whomever decided to implement this program. Your patriotism and generosity are much appreciated! Semper Fi

Ah, here's the latest edition of "A person whining about the great loyalty comics engender, and labeling it lazy stupidity instead, because people continue to buy books that s/he personally considers crap, as if the people who currently buy comics are the real problem instead of the legions who don't" [Ninth Art]

Nick Barrucci, Part 3 [Newsarama]
More of the usual points from the "proud salesperson" set, although Neilalien is still doubtful that Lazerfoil(TM) covers, smaller royalty checks, more superheroes and Freddie Prinze Jr. light the way.

Equal time: In what will surely not be grist for any pet theory dependent on (a) all the superhero movies being wave after wave of bombs, and (b) that spelling the end of the direct market, X-Men 2 is almost at $200 million domestically [Box Office Mojo] and at least $150 million internationally [Box Office Guru]
But you can bet your last ticket stub that every eye-rolling movie factoid will get repeated on a weekly basis in shrill anticipation of what will certainly be crowing when a bomb inevitably happens (maybe as soon as LXG).

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